Modern British Fiction

This anthology, first published in 1919, is very much a record of its time. Many of the poems deal with the cataclysmic trauma of World War One and the emergence of a new world order after the fading of the Edwardian era. Among the authors of the 151 poems can be found the names of Rupert Brooke and Ivor Gurney, best known as war poets, as well as James Joyce and the mystic philosopher Evelyn Underhill.

Brought to you by Penguin. SOON TO BE A MAJOR NETFLIX FILM, STARRING COLIN FARELL AND TILDA SWINTON ‘I waited patiently for the next hand to be played out, and I had a feeling it was going to be a Natural, a perfect nine.’ His name is Lord Doyle. His plan: to gamble away his last days in the...

If life in the Intelligence Service has taught John Bachelor anything, it's to keep his head down. Especially now, when he's living rent-free in a dead spook's flat. So he's not delighted to be woken at dawn by a pair of Regent's Park's heavies, looking for a client he's not seen in years. John...

Three semi-autobiographical plays by Victor Pemberton telling the story of one family across the 20th century Novelist and playwright Victor Pemberton was best known for scripting Doctor Who and working on Jim Henson’s Fraggle Rock. His many plays for BBC Radio included The Slide, Kill the...

An anthology of plays and original radio dramas from the prolific playwright Born and brought up in the East End of London, Bernard Kops came to fame in the late 1950s as part of British drama’s ‘New Wave’. A lyrical chronicler of Jewish family life, he is often compared to Arnold Wesker...

Police stations are outdated, and AI’s make more efficient detectives, or so says a UK Home Office determined to make cuts. When the sole witness in a trafficking case is discovered brutally murdered, a brass horseshoe forced between his teeth, Detective Sergeant Rex King is summoned back to...

Winner of the Man Booker Prize, The Line of Beauty is a classic novel about class, politics and sexuality in Margaret Thatcher's 1980s Britain. There was the soft glare of the flash – twice – three times – a gleaming sense of occasion, the gleam floating in the eye as a blot of shadow, his...

Four stunning full cast dramatisation of WWII flying ace, David Beaty’s most exciting novels Listen now to this thrilling collection of four dramas from the master of the genre, David Beaty. These vintage dramatisations will have you on the edge of your seat and transport you to a bygone era...

Brought to you by Penguin. Intimidated by her father, the rector of Knype Hill, Dorothy performs her submissive roles of dutiful daughter and bullied housekeeper. Her thoughts are taken up with the costumes she is making for the church school play, by the hopelessness of preaching to the poor...

Brought to you by Penguin. Will Anna's grand designs prove just a pipe dream? Anna, a newly qualified interior designer, has decided it's time to put her money and her expertise where her mouth is. She's risked everything on buying a tiny but adorable cottage so she can renovate it, sell it on...

This anthology of 140 poems, published in 1921, features the work of 97 British and American poets who were active in the early 20th century. Among the more famous names are John Masefield, Rupert Brooke, Walter de la Mare, William Butler Yeats, Robert Graves, Amy Lowell, Carl Sandburg, Edna St Vincent Millay, Joyce Kilmer and Witter Bynner.

Brought to you by Penguin. Black Dogs is a dark and brooding masterpiece from Booker-prize winning Sunday Times bestselling author Ian McEwan. In 1946, June and Bernard set off on their honeymoon. Fired by their ideals and passion for one another, they had planned an idyllic holiday, but in...

Bloomsbury presents The Girl I Used To Know by Faith Hogan, read by Flora Montgomery. 'Another heart-warming read from Faith Hogan' Trisha Ashley. 'Heart-warming, poignant and uplifting' Lucy Coleman, author of Snowflakes Over Holly Cove. *** Two women. Two very different lives. One unexpected...

'Wise, warm and beautifully written' – Daily Mail 'I absolutely loved this book and didn’t want it to end' – Liane Moriarty, author of Big Little Lies A romantic, suspenseful mystery, The Man Who Didn't Call by Rosie Walsh is perfect for anyone who has ever waited for a phone call that...

Brought to you by Penguin. Unforgettably funny and painfully honest, Jonathan Coe's tale of Benjamin Trotter and his friends' coming of age during the 1970s is a heartfelt celebration of the joys and agonies of growing up. Featuring, among other things, IRA bombs, prog rock, punk rock, bad...

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of The Closed Circle by Jonathan Coe, read by Nicholas Burns. On Millennium night, with Blair presiding over a superficially cool, sexed-up new version of the country, Benjamin Trotter finds himself watching the celebrations on his parents' TV. Watching, in...

'An enchanting debut' Woman's Own November 1942 Dear Elizabeth, I've got myself a new project, to cheer myself up a bit. It has absolutely nothing to do with the war effort. We're completely starved of art in London these days. Anything decent was stashed away by the authorities years ago.But...

Ex-spy Kendal was one of the best, but now she’s wearing the toughest disguise of her career: Mom. “An incisive feminist thriller and heaps of fun.”—Margot Douaihy Kendal Carter is out in the cold and she wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s been four years since her daughter Rosie...

Kenneth Horne, Kenneth Williams, Betty Marsden and Hugh Paddick star in 16 episodes of the anarchic 1960s radio comedy. Round the Horne arrived on BBC radio in 1965, bringing laughter to Sunday lunchtimes throughout the land. Over the course of sixteen weekly episodes it carved a niche in the...

A young couple dream of moving to the Yorkshire Dales, with hilarious consequences Listen now to this delightful comedy from the archive starring Rodney Bewes (The Likely Lads) as David Parkinson, a young husband and a man with big dreams of country life. David and his wife Helen decided to swap...